‘Huge amount of growth': Lawmakers hear testimony on meeting Pa. power demand
Wind turbines in Hardin County, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023. (Robert Zullo/ States Newsroom)
Pennsylvania electricity would be more reliable and affordable if more wind, solar and nuclear power are deployed as the regional grid faces an explosive growth in demand, state lawmakers heard Monday.
Testimony during a House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee hearing suggested that Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro's proposed legislation to increase the supply of renewable energy would position the commonwealth well to ride out the turbulence. But at least one industry representative pushed back on that premise.
PJM Interconnection, the organization that operates the electricity grid for Pennsylvania and 12 other states, has predicted its peak demand will grow by about 70,000 megawatts to 220,000 megawatts by 2040. The growth is being driven by the increased electrification of transportation and industry and the proliferation of data centers to satisfy the demand for computing power from artificial intelligence and other technologies.
'That's like building Pennsylvania's entire existing energy generating fleet, and then some additional 20,000 more megawatts over the next 15 years. That's a huge amount of growth, and we do need all energy sources to play a part in that,' said Evan Vaughn, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, a nonprofit group representing wind, solar and battery storage developers and advocates for renewable energy growth.
Shapiro's Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard (PRESS) would create incentives for renewable energy development and add emerging technologies such as next-generation nuclear, fusion, and carbon capture technologies to the state's range of renewable energy sources.
First introduced in 2024 and reintroduced as part of Shapiro's broader Lightning energy plan, PRESS would require 35% of Pennsylvania's electricity to come from clean sources by 2035. The updated standard would open Pennsylvania to new investment and create 14,500 jobs, the governor's office said.
The Lightning plan would employ an existing state program, the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) Tax Credit, to to provide up to $100 million per facility for three years to encourage the addition of renewable energy to the grid and additional credits for projects in the two proposed regional hydrogen hubs and for sustainable aviation fuel.
Rep. Danielle Friel-Otten (D-Chester) and Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks) are sponsors of companion bills in the House and Senate that would put PRESS into effect. Pennsylvania is not immune from the effects on the price of electricity of the growing global demand for energy and a plateau in petroleum and natural gas production, Friel-Otten said.
'We have an important task ahead of us to increase energy on the grid,' Friel-Otten said. 'As we do that, we have a responsibility to continue to do the work to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change.'
Vaughn said there are about 9,600 megawatts of solar, wind and storage capacity projects in the PJM queue in Pennsylvania.
'In many ways those are the fastest projects and the most concrete projects that can be brought online to help meet demand in the next five years or so,' he said, adding that utility scale wind and solar power projects are the least expensive options for new power plants.
Combined with Shapiro's proposed Reliable Energy Siting and Electric Transition (RESET) Board, which would serve as a central authority to consider and approve applications for large generating facilities, the planned projects could be online quickly. That legislation was introduced as House Bill 502 by Rep. Mandy Steele (D-Allegheny).
Nick Cohen, president of Doral Renewables, a solar energy production and storage development company in Philadelphia, said local opposition to energy projects often stands in the way of the economic benefits to individual landowners and communities. Pennsylvania would benefit from a state-level reviewing body that other states have empowered to vet energy projects.
'The bill is encouraging. It's a beacon that goes out to corporations who, in many cases, are the buyers of the energy. And it will bring companies to Pennsylvania who are looking for renewable energy,' Cohen said.
But David Taylor, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, said the state's retail choice energy structure has been a success, with electricity prices decreasing significantly since the industry was deregulated in 2005. In the 15 years that followed, greenhouse gas emissions from power generation decreased by more than 44%, Taylor said.
Shapiro's plan would tamper with that success by placing mandates on the energy industry, forcing the early retirement of reliable generation assets such as natural gas and coal and replace them with what he said were problematic technologies, he said.
'To be clear, this is not an evolution of policy. It's a revolutionary disruption that would dismantle our competitive electricity markets and replace them with government mandates that distort supply, limit choice and raise costs,' Taylor said.
The RESET Board would streamline the process for building energy projects by speeding permits and reducing red tape. Pennsylvania is one of only 12 states without a state entity to handle siting decisions for major energy projects, according to Shapiro's office.
Solar and wind would require the development of millions of acres of open land, create waste as technology becomes obsolete and put the United States at the mercy of nations such as China that dominate the production of rare earth elements needed for batteries, Taylor claimed.
Although Pennsylvania ranks near the bottom among the states in energy from wind, solar and geothermal sources, according to a PennEnvironment analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data, the goal of 35% renewable energy includes nuclear and is lower than that of neighboring states. New Jersey, for example, has a goal of 50% renewable energy by 2030.
Taylor said he also opposes Shapiro's plan to offer tax credits for renewable energy projects.
'Every time that the word incentive is used, I hear distortion. You are taking money from the taxpayers and essentially using it to bribe people to make choices that they would not otherwise make. And those things are fundamentally unhealthy for our economy,' Taylor said.
Rep. Thomas Mehaffie (R-Dauphin) said the unprecedented growth in demand means it's crucial that the commonwealth act to speed development of all energy sources.
Mehaffie recalled his sponsorship in 2019 of legislation to update the then-15-year-old precursor to PRESS, the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards, when 'a big fight over a bunch of industries wanting more and more' resulted in inaction.
There's no more time to fight, he said.
'Five years ago, we sounded this alarm, and no one did anything … if we continue to stick our head in the sand and do nothing, guess what's going to happen? Nothing,' Mehaffie said. 'And I'll tell you, what's going to happen is we're not going to have power on the grid.'
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